Morgan Geyser is comforted by attorney Anthony Cotton before she tells the judge she is sorry for the pain she caused Payton Leutner in the Slender Man stabbing case. Geyser was ordered committed Thursday to 40 years of mental health treatment and monitoring.(Photo: Rick Wood / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

WAUKESHA - Morgan Geyser was ordered committed Thursday to 40 years of mental health treatment and monitoring in the Slender Man stabbing case and for the foreseeable future will remain at a secure state hospital in Oshkosh.

Circuit Judge Michael Bohren opted for the maximum commitment term after hearing from experts who suggested Geyser, 15, could receive more effective treatment for her schizophrenia somewhere other than the Winnebago Mental Health Institute, where she is housed solely with adults who have committed crimes.

"We can't forget what actually happened," Bohren said. "It was a premeditated murder" that, but for serendipity, didn't result in death.

Geyser's attorney suggested 25 years of monitoring until Geyser is 40 would be appropriate, given her stabilization and the full remission of mental illness symptoms.

Before the judge's ruling, Geyser tearfully apologized to her victim, whose family was in court, and said she hoped the girl is doing well. Then she put her head down on the table as Bohren began explaining his decision.

Geyser was 12 when she and Anissa Weier were charged as adults in the sensational crime. They had plotted the murder of their friend and sixth-grade classmate Payton Leutner, they told police, because they feared Slender Man, a fictional internet boogeyman, would kill them or their families if they didn't carry out the crime.

Leutner survived 19 stab wounds and was discovered by a passing bicyclist after she had crawled to the edge of woods at a Waukesha park where the attack occurred.

But being committed to the custody of the Department of Health Services does not mean a subject must remain in a secure hospital the entire time. Geyser could petition for conditional release every six months, if treating staff support the move. But Bohren — or a successor judge — would have to approve any changes.

Her attorney, Anthony Cotton, said after the hearing he planned to make such a request as soon as the law allows.

Geyser has already been at Winnebago for more than a year after she was committed for mental health treatment by a different judge in a separate civil proceeding. Within several weeks of her arrest, she had been diagnosed with early-onset schizophrenia but wasn't able to get treatment at the West Bend juvenile jail where she was being held on $500,000 bail.

Jessica Andrews, the director of forensic services at Winnebago and Geyser's main psychotherapist, testified Thursday that if Geyser were there only on what's known as a Chapter 51 commitment, or had been found not guilty by reason of mental disease as a juvenile, she could be housed with other teens at Winnebago. Because she was prosecuted as an adult, she can't.

Morgan Geyser is escorted out of a Waukesha County courtroom after a judge committed her Thursday to 40 years of mental health treatment and monitoring in the Slender Man stabbing case. Geyser was 12 when she and Anissa Weier were charged as adults in the sensational crime. They had plotted the murder of their friend and sixth-grade classmate Payton Leutner, they told police, because they feared Slender Man, a fictional internet boogeyman, would kill them or their families if they didn't carry out the crime.(Photo: Rick Wood / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

Andrews said that since last fall, after Geyser's psychotropic medications were adjusted in the spring, she has not shown any symptoms of psychosis and is open about treatment, never resists taking her medication and has never been violent or aggressive.

Geyser's family supports all treatment, Andrews said, and visits her two or three times a week. Geyser gets educational instruction for about 3½ hours a week, can make phone calls and write letters, but has no internet access.

A psychiatrist who has seen Geyser four times, Kenneth Robbins, testified by video from California that she has made dramatic progress in treatment, has become insightful and wants to continue her medications to reduce the risk she might ever become dangerously psychotic again.

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Morgan Geyser is escorted out of a Waukesha County courtroom after a judge committed her Thursday to 40 years of mental health treatment and monitoring in the Slender Man stabbing case. Geyser was 12 when she and Anissa Weier were charged as adults in the sensational crime. They had plotted the murder of their friend and sixth-grade classmate Payton Leutner, they told police, because they feared Slender Man, a fictional internet boogeyman, would kill them or their families if they didn't carry out the crime. Rick Wood / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Morgan Geyser is comforted by attorney Anthony Cotton before she tells the judge she is sorry for the pain she caused Payton Leutner in the Slender Man stabbing case. Geyser was ordered committed Thursday to 40 years of mental health treatment and monitoring. Rick Wood / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Morgan Geyser, listens to testimony by Kent Berney, a clinical psychologist, who said he believes Geyser would be best served by treatment at a less restrictive residential facility, not the Winnegbago Mental Health Institute. Rick Wood / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Morgan Geyser (left) listens as her attorney, Anthony Cotton, argues for placement in setting more appropriate for youth during Geyser's sentencing before Waukesha County Circuit Judge Michael Bohren on Thursday. Geyser was 12 when she and Anissa Weier plotted to kill their sixth-grade classmate in 2014 under a delusion they needed to carry out the act to appease the internet character Slender Man. Rick Wood / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Psychiatrist Kenneth Robbins testifies that Morgan Geyser needs to be placed in a treatment facility where she is is around adolescents. Currently, she is placed in a facility with adults only. Rick Wood / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Jessica Andrews, director of forensic services at Winnebago Mental Health Institute, testifies that she believes Morgan Geyser's mental health has improved to a point where she should be placed in a setting for adolescents. Rick Wood / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Morgan Geyser looks back at people in the courtroom gallery as she arrives Thursday for her sentencing hearing before Waukesha County Circuit Judge Michael Bohren. Geyser was 12 when she and Anissa Weier plotted to kill their sixth-grade classmate in 2014 under a delusion they needed to carry out the act to appease the internet character Slender Man. Rick Wood / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Morgan Geyser, who was 12 when she and Anissa Weier plotted to kill their sixth-grade classmate in 2014 under a delusion they needed to carry out the act to appease the internet character Slender Man, appears for sentencing before Waukesha County Circuit Judge Michael Bohren on Thursday. Rick Wood / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Waukesha County Circuit Judge Michael Bohren begins the sentencing hearing Thursday for Morgan Geyser who was 12 when she and Anissa Weier plotted to kill their sixth-grade classmate in 2014 under a delusion they needed to carry out the act to appease the internet character Slender Man. Rick Wood / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Brook Lundbohm, a psychologist who interviewed Morgan Geyser, said Geyser has made progress in her treatment for hallucinations but hears a voice named Maggie recently. Lundbohm was testifying Thursday during Geyser's sentencing hearing before Waukesha County Circuit Judge Michael Bohren. Rick Wood / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

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Robbins said socializing with peers would be an important part of her treatment now. He said if that were to occur, it should be in a secured setting, at least for now.

Kent Berney, another psychiatrist who interviewed and tested Geyser twice last year and reviewed her extensive treatment records, said he felt she did not present a substantial risk to harm herself or others. A key factor, he said, was how much she now recognizes her illness, her need for medication and the negative ramifications if her symptoms return.

A psychologist who testified for the state said she could not support conditional release. Brooke Lundbohm said in October that Geyser couldn't complete their interview because she broke down as Lundbohm challenged her assumptions about how she could live outside the hospital. Lundbohm said Geyser thought she could live with her family and trust her mother to recognize any problems.

Lundbohm also said Geyser told her she had heard as recently as a few weeks earlier the voice of Maggie, a hallucinatory voice she had been hearing for years.

Waukesha County Circuit Judge Michael Bohren begins the sentencing hearing Thursday for Morgan Geyser who was 12 when she and Anissa Weier plotted to kill their sixth-grade classmate in 2014 under a delusion they needed to carry out the act to appease the internet character Slender Man.(Photo: Rick Wood / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

Before Weier's sentencing, Payton Leutner's mother Stacie submitted a written statement about the crime's enduring impact on their family. It indicated that Payton wanted the defendants to get help

Payton Leutner in a 2017 photo.(Photo: Leutner family)

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Angie Geyser, the mother of Morgan Geyser, talks about seeing signs of Morgan’s schizophrenia. Now 15, Geyser was charged in the 2014 stabbing of her sixth-grade classmate to appease Slender Man, a fictional internet character.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The case drew immediate worldwide attention and became the subject of an HBO documentary, "Beware the Slenderman." The Leutner family gave exclusive access to their story to ABC, which aired two episodes of "20/20" about the case and plans a third on Friday night.

On this latest episode, the defendants' mothers, one of several forensic psychologists involved in the case, a defense attorney and one of the prosecutors will appear, many interviewed by host David Muir, anchor of "ABC World News Tonight."